Important Homecoming Information! See you soon.

 Everyone is invited to my homecoming in a couple of weeks. See the attached picture. I will see yall soon!

--Abe

---

President Nielson

Magnolia, AR Branch

The Dark Knight returns in a Silver Honda Accord

To friends and family,

How was everyone's week? Anybody lose an arm or a leg? I will see some of you soon, and this is my second to last email so you better enjoy it while you can. We had a lot of rain here, infact it rained most of the week on and off! 

Monday was raining the whole day but we also had to get a car wash before zone conference anyway so we attempted to do that. The one problem is we couldn't find a single open car wash! They were all closed or broken. Finally we just decided to go use the free vacuums at one of the closed car washes, and then went and powerwashed our car off at one of those places that are a poor excuse for a car wash and you pay with coins to turn on one measly sprayer haha

We also got a call from Logan and Sarah, and Logan got out of school early and so we were able to go over and play games with them! We also ate LOTS of pinwheels cause Sarah made a ton of them. Then in evening we drove down to the funeral home for Wade O'Neal's viewing, and it was good to see him and know he's in a better place. We attempted to visit some people but there was so much water everywhere that basically no matter what we did our shoes were filled with water. Everywhere you step was like the reverse of a mirage where you dont think there's water there but then there IS and it's 1 foot deep!

Tuesday we woke up early and got on the road to Longview for Zone Conference. Again it was super rainy, except with a ton of fog this time too! And the map decided to tell us to take "shortcuts" on all these backroads haha--so we were just flying along blind in the dark fog and rain. It was an adventure! We finally got to Zone Conference safe and sound, and had a mediocre to good meeting. There were some good trainings about fear and not being afraid. President Taylor also talked about how to avoid suffering for things that haven't even happened because we often make up false scenarios in our minds. It was good. We also got some trainings on using social media to find more, and talked a lot about referrals and calling them within seconds of recieving them. It was all pretty good, it just felt like a step back in time. It's like the mission is having to re-learn all these things we already knew and were doing under President Seitz. One thing I didn't like at all as usual is their approach to accountability. They brought up the huge leaderboard as usual and then had us all stare at it and take notes based on our comparison with other zones. They also told us that we are probably feeling the pinch looking at it and told us that's good. Except I felt no pinch at all first of all because they are ridiculous and second of all Shreveport Zone had the top numbers of all the zones haha so I dont know what "pinch" they wanted us to feel. I don't know why so many people love the numbers sooo much, it's understandable to like then a little bit but it seems to be all that some people enjoy. They also trained us on how to plan Baptismal services using a reference sheet they made. They basically just read it to us, which we could have done that on our own but I guess they wanted to hammer it into everyone's brains. The Social Media Specialists (if you can call them that--I think a more fitting name would be "The Missionaries that have been chosen to help missionaries use social media to find but they aren't very good at it themselves so its like the blind leading the blind plus they put the people who are the WORST at simple graphic design and editing in charge of the whole mission Facebook page but I guess they think they are good so it's okay"-- but I guess MTHBCTHMUSMTFBTAVGAITSILTBLTBPTPTPWATWASGDAEICOTWMFPBIGTTTAGSIO doesn't roll off the toungue quite as easily as SMS does haha) trained us on how we should basically teach a principle and pray with people on the phone and ask to call another time just so we can call them "found" and have our finding numbers go up (his exact words). Which is basically the epidemy of everything I'm against. We aren't here to farm finds, we are here to teach and help PEOPLE. Who cares if someone is "found" or not? And I'm sorry to say but talking on the phone about how the Book of Mormon is cool for 1 minute and then forcing a forced prayer in there is NOT a lesson! If people are truly interested we will not have to FORCE anything, we can just be normal. This way of finding as SMS trained on can tear areas apart with tons of fake finds and noninterested people in their teaching pool that consume time that should be left for the elect. Tsk tsk

We did have some pretty good soup and salad for lunch though! I loved the Tortilla soul especially. We also won a clean car award again haha

In the evening we drove back and visited a bunch of people. We were able to teach Chris which was cool! He said he feels the spirit when we come over.

On Wednesday we went in the morning to the church, and Brother Lowther and I went in for the Stake Audit with David Elliot. This audit was much quicker than last time, but still tedious to go through so many deposits and reimbursements. We also walked around campus and met a girl from the nursing program who is seeking more truth! We also met a guy named Eric who said he had nothing better to do except listen haha--we had a good lesson with Blake who has watched even more of the Book of Mormon videos, and then met a cool guy named Cree. We also met at the church with Debbie and Brooklyn for a lesson and it was amazing! Royce came with us and we taught them about temples. It was so good! They are excited to go. We also talked about some final commandments in preparation for baptism and they are willing to keep them! Royce shared some powerful experiences of the temple in his life too. After dinner we had 3 appointments scheduled and went with the Millers but one by one they each cancelled haha--so then we decided to go Charlien Chsluething®️! We went to several different of her relatives houses and each one gave us a clue of where to go next. Finally we met her cousin and he pointed us to the house supposedly Charlien was in. So we went up and knocked (at this point it was 8:40 and the street was almost completely dark). A voice that sounded like Charlien's voice came from within asking who it was. Once we said missionaries a different coice came but they sounded like they were trying to be like Charlien. She kept saying she was in the bed. When we kept asking if Charlien was there she would just dodge the question and say she was "in the bed." All of this was just us talking through the walls haha

Finally we asked if we could come another time but then she started saying she's sick. Each time we would say something there would be a slight delay before the reply came. Finally we left. Dont know what is going on but we are going to get to the bottom of it!

Thursday we walked the dogs and Elder Bradshaw's was being so bad and walking so horribly and trying to jump on him so much that he gave it a good whip with the leash. That calmed the dog down pretty quick! Buck who I often walk as usual tried to get all the cats and kept trying to go back out to get them even when we brought him back in. He makes a beeline right for them everytime he even so much as GLIMPSES a tuft of cat! We then went and had a really good lesson with a less active member on the Tree of Life Book of Mormon video! He really liked it and seemed to get all excited about the Book of Mormon again after we watched it with him. And he was in need of food cause his resources were completely depleted due to unanticipated costs and so I approved some fast offering expenses to get him some food. Also met a girl named Tashawn who's interested in the Book of Mormon. We went and taught one-legged Chris again and he's doing well. He still hadn't watched a Book of Mormon video like he promised so we watched one with him and talked about baptism and the Holy Ghost. We went and taught Becky and Fatima about the sabbath day but we couldn't keep the lesson on topic cause Becky was trying to make soup the whole time saying "I'm still listening dont worry" while not listening of course--don't know why people say that. Fatima was trying to tidy up, and Becky's granddaughter Anila was distracting Elder Bradshaw! So all I could do was try and talk to everyone who I know weren't listening haha--but luckily we did meet another one of Becky's daughters named Cat and she's super interested! She wants to come to church Sunday. Becky kept making fun of her for wearing a cropped hoodie: "Cat what do you think your doing how are you supposed to stay warm when your hoodie only goes to there??" 

Also we got a call from a guy named Sam whos talked with missionaries in the past and we basically answered his questions for the next 40 minutes. He had lots of questions about the Book of Mormon and basically told us he hasn't joined our church here because there aren't enough members and he would want to have a girlfriend that was a member. So we told him he could always bring his girlfriend into the church but he didn't seem to consider that idea unfortunately. We also had a good dinner with amazing hamburgers Logan made for us at the Flowers place! We made bacon cheeseburgers with grape jelly on them and it was amazing! Didn't expect it to be so good.

On Friday in the morning we went and visited another less active member in a nursing home. He told us some stories about his days where he was a truck driver and would basically commit fraud by driving more than he was allowed and then messing with his log book to make it look like he was taking the appropriate ammount of time off so he could make double the money haha--he had some other funny stories too. For lunch we went to My Kitchen Table with Royce and I had some good chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. We walked around the campus and everyone we saw walked the opposite direction today so we didn't get to talk to many except for a girl named Rose. Rose is mildly interested so I guess we will see what happens there. We also went up to Waldo and found 2 ladies and taught them the restoration! Both Kelli and Jamila are interested in the Book of Mormon, one wanted the app and the other wanted a physical copy. We also had a lady who's door we knocked on stutter and finally choke out a meager excuse that she was going to go to the store soon so there was no time for a scripture! We had a really good lesson on Fasting and Tithing after that with Debbie and Brooklyn. They are both ready for baptism! Brooklyn was sharing her concerns about her fears of death Hut Elder Bradshaw shared a super powerful experience of how he came to know that it isn't the end and after that she was basically crying and that concern got resolved! We showed them the font and they are excited for next week. We had some good spaghetti with the Masses after that and talked about all sorts of funny things most of them involving broken down cars. We went out to the country for our lesson with Jarriod but he wasn't there. He also usually instantly responds to texts but didn't respond all day! And his house is in the middle of the forest alone in the dark...hopefully he hasn't been eaten by racoons!

Saturday we walked the dogs, and Elder Bradshaw told me he officially no longer likes dogs haha--the shelter has broken him. Now he gets just as annoyed with his as I do. Most of Saturday it was misting though so it was kinda fun walking around in it. We drove out to the middle of nowhere and visited a few friends and members. We got on some really muddy backroads so now we have a brown truck instead of our usual white one! We had a zone call on planning and they basically just taught the usual things they always teach on these calls. They kept talking about how we don't want to have any regrets which people just like to kind of say sometimes without really thinking. It's such a hollow thing to say but it appeals to the emotions for some reason and so people just like to use it to make people do things he or she (the person saying it) wants him or her (the person potentially doing said action) to do. We talked to Reed again who has started selling soap haha--and it was so funny the way he explained it all

He basically gets big pallets full of big buckets full of soap from his buddy in Dallas and then just sell it to people. He sells Tide and Pine Sol both liquid so I don't know how--maybe just gets a baggie and puts some in and hands it over? Haha--Also he said its selling fast right now! We also went down Booth street which I haven't ever walked down and so Ive been thinking each day, "hmm we should try going down Booth st" and then we get too busy and don't have time. We'll the time finally came and we were sorely disappointed. It had probably 10 houses, half of which had stuff growing through them and looked abandoned but we could hear noises from within. The others were mostly dark except for one. We knocked that one and the lady came out and was clearly cooking meth and was very rude telling is she was "busy" haha

I did a lot of preparation for Branch Conference, and then we also talked with Sam on the phone for a while about how the Bible isn't perfect and how we can know that God is really there

Sunday was crazy, I got released and Royce Burdine got called as the new Branch president. I love our Stake Presidency, they gave super good talks and trainings. Brother Mass and Brother Bahr will be Royces counselors and Logan will be his clerk. And the new Elders Quorum President will be Brother Lowther. All as I orchestrated >:) (no reason for evil smile here, it's going to be great!) Brother Lowther called Brother Steven's who just barely closed on a house here and his records arent even in our Branch yet but he called him as a counselor haha--so week 2 of him being at the branch he's already called into the stake Presidents office. Hes been a Stake President himself before and Bishop several times though so I think he's used to it luckily. We had a good linger longer after church and ate a ton of food. I sat at the table with President Smith and the Flowers so naturally it was a good time! Afterwards everyone got set apart and I took care of a bunch of finances and filing. We also had an excellent Come Follow Me lesson with the Flowers. I love the new Come Follow Me book

--Abe

Useless Cravat

Attention people of other places,

How was your week? Did anyone get a lot of snow or have stormy weather? This week we had a lot of ice on the roads. In a place that is able to handle it this ice like Utah it would be quickly eliminated in about 30 minutes, but because we are in Arkansas there's literally nothing anyone can do except sit like lumps and cancel school and work day after day until it's gone. :) So everyone got a full week off school haha

For us though we didn't really get any time off. President Taylor says that they still work in the snow and ice in Canada so we can do it here too. What he doesn't seem to understand is that Canada can actually HANDLE this weather, here people cannot. Not only does nothing get clear but nobody seems to have the slightest idea how to drive in snow and ice here so it's like a minefield. But it does make for some fun drifting and sliding around! I'm sure after a bunch of missionaries get hurt President Taylor will learn his lesson...

On Monday it was sooo icy basically the road was covered with inches of ice. It looked like snow so everyone keeps calling it that but it wasnt haha--it was straight inches of ice just coating the roads under the guise of snow. So all we did is drove over to the Flower's and hung out with them! We played games, ate, and hundled up next to their faux fireplace. We also may have gotten some skin boards and went out and slid around on the ice. We helped Logan and Sarah do a photoshoot in the cold "snow" as well to try and help them win SAU's snow photo competition! Some of the photos included Logan lying accross his mustang in a swimsuit ready for summer haha-- In the evening it got so bad and impossible to drive and so forth that we just stayed with the Flowers all day. We are calling that photoshoot our "service" for the day. :)) We drank hot cocoa and spent a lot of time talking. 

Tuesday was no better, in fact it was worse. You can't even start driving on flat ground without your tires spinning futiley (if thats a word). Luckily we have 4 wheel drive! But we were encouraged to keep working (unless it was really dangerous they said--and even though I thought it counted as really dangerous we didnt get enough direction to feel good about just staying in so we did our best). We spent the morning working on administrative stuff, and getting things in place for when the next branch president is called, then we went and had lunch with the Flowers! Sarah's poor car has gone through it haha--she hit a tree with it on Monday cause of the ice, slid into a curb on Tuesday cause of the ice, and then snapped her windshield wiper off due to it being frozen down as well. Luckily her car is only lightly dented from these endeavors. We spent the afternoon sliding around as we attempted to walk around and talk to people and visit people. We learned that the less you pick up your feet and just let yourself slide, the better off you are! Every person we tried to visit said it was too cold and we shouldn't be out and should go away haha--but it wasnt a complete waste because in the space of 4 hours we finally ran into a lady named Ashley who has some friends who are members! She is interested in the Book of Mormon, and wants to sit down and talk with us sometime. We also had a good visit with Mike Jones, and got to talk with him about football and so forth. We had a mini lesson with a guy named Brent too and he's really interested and is looking for a church. For dinner the Flowers had us over again and we had some amazing Alfredo Sauce noodles and salad and cheesecake and ice cream and garlic bread! 

We ended the night by going to teach Jarriod. We ended up debating with him about snakes for a while. He had the ridiculous impression that snakes have legs hahaha--so we couldn't help but try and teach him a lesson about how they actually don't instead haha--sometimes you can't teach the Gospel to someone until they have some basic human knowledge such as the fact that snakes slither. They do NOT walk around on legs!! He also thinks that if you chop off a snake's head it doesn't die, but speaking from personal experience I can testify that this is also not true. :)

On Wednesday we drove the Millers to District council in our truck because they were scared to drive down in the ice. A drive that would have usually taken us 60 minutes took us 2 hours instead. :)) but we made it! We had a good district council, the ZLs came too which is always fun. We ate at Cottons for lunch and then exchanged. I went back to Magnolia with Elder Lloyd which was fun, it again took is several hours to return. We did get to teach a guy named Charlie though, but he wasn't super focused on us because the whole time behind him there was water pooling behind him because a pipe in the wall somehwere had ruptured. So the whole time we talked he kept looking behind him in dismay and concern at the ever growing pool of water and then looking back at Sister Miller rambling on about the Gospel and looking more and more helpless haha--finally I Was able to get a word in and end the lesson so we will see if he wants to talk again...

In the evening I went out with Elder Lloyd and we got a lot of visiting done! We ran into a guy who tried to get us to pay his cell phone bill (which was $140 haha--don't know what kind of expenses he was racking up with that kind of bill haha). He kept saying he would pay us back with cash if we could just use our cards to pay. As we walked away he said, "okayyy well you never know what if I ended up being God? Then you'd regret this!" Hahaha

We also taught a guy named Blake out in the cold on his lawn, and taught the Restoration. He's really interested though and when we were talking about Joseph Smith Blake said he'd been searching for a church too and asked us if he could come! We also taught Shardae and talked about the sacrament and church. She seemed to like it a lot and her house was warm so we were happy. Also got to teach Octaviorson or whatever his name is, and then went and stopped by the Flowers so Elder Lloyd could say hi. We got to revisit the famous Pepsi Nitro with them as well!

Since I'm leaving soon I've decided to take every opportunity and excuse I can to drop by the Flower's place

"Oh! Oops! Sorry I wanted to buy some Flowers and I guess I ended up here too bad so anyway how are you guys doing..."

"Elder Bradshaw just got off his exchange and needs to recharge, could we swing by?"

"Oh no I left my coat at yalls place, we will swing by later to pick it up"

"I have a pressing concern about fresh pork chops Logan, and I think you're the only one who might have an answer!"

"Theres something wrong on your records I noticed, might need to check with yall and see if we can correct it..."

"Elder Bradshaw has a question for you Logan"

Thursday we went in the morning to walk the dogs but they turned us away for the first time because of the thick ice still on the ground. The dogs were not very happy about this decision and made it known very vocally as we left. After that I got a call from Royce saying Wade O'Neal passed away. After that I was on the phone with tons of people (Lonnie, Chris, Millers, Strattons, Lowthers, Debbie, Thomas and much much more) for the next 2 hours. After getting things squared away for representation and speakers for Wade's funeral, I dealt with the other problem, which is Debbie Ryan fell and broke both her shoulders! So that isn't good. We exchanged back and then visited Thomas, her son. He is not all there it seems, and switches from manipulate and crazy, to nice and childlike back and forth and so it's hard to know what to expect from him. He keeps on trying to have Sister Bahr bring him Sister Ryan's purse so he can do who knows what. But it was still a good visit, we were able to pray for him and so forth.

We had back to back appointments in the evening and as we were running from place to place we kept getting more and more behind. And then we got a call saying we needed to run over and help clear put Wades room at the nursing home. So we ran over and threw everything in bags and ran to the next thing. We never got back on schedule all night. 

In the evening we went and had a lesson with Becky which was fun! We met at the Millers. We started teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ but Sister Miller kept trying to get them to name the 10 commandments and to recite things from articles of faith they have never heard or had any way of knowing haha--I don't know why. It was a good lesson though we steered back on course and then put Farod on date for February 3rd. He keeps calling getting baptized "getting backwashed" haha

Also we now have over 200 newly interested people in our pool besides our teaching pool so we simply cant keep up with everyone!

On Friday we went and cleaned the church in the morning with the Millers, and then in the afternoon we taught Debbie and Brooklyn. We taught them all about commandments and the 10 commandments, and then we also taught them the Word of Wisdom and they have already been following it! We put Debbie on date for the same day as Brooklyn, so they will be getting baptized on February 3rd as well as Farod! After that we continued our trend from Thursday of Being perpetually behind, it was unpleasant but also good to be busy! We taught Blake again and in the two days since we had taught him first he and his girlfriend watched 8 Book of Mormon videos and they want to start coming to church together! We had a good dinner with the Masses at Flying Burger and ranted to each other about social security and other political subjects that I will not mention in this email haha--but suffice it to say it involved lithium thingies and big metal boxes that are sometimes used to transport humans...and then we went and watched the first vision video with one-legged Chris. He seemed to really like it, we pointed out the feeling of the spirit and invited him to pray on his own. 

Now I am starting something new--a spiritual thought! I will be putting a spiritual thought in my email from now on. 

Surprise! I was just pulling your leg. Go have your own spiritual thoughts, stop being lazy and wanting the work to be done for you!

Saturday was fun, we went in the morning with Royce the 2 hours down to Shreveport for Stake Conference. We went to the leadership session and it was really good. They talked about Family services, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Then in our bishops breakout with the YW Presidents we talked about the youth and how you focus in on them. We ate dinner at Ki Mexico with Brother Harris, Royce, and Brother and Sister Lowther. It was fantastic tacos as usual! Then we had a great evening session as well, and I got to reconnect with many of the Stake members! I've served a total of 10 transfers in the Shreveport Stake which is over a year, so I've gotten to know a lot of these members pretty well! I will also mention that there were a few suspicious disappearances of some choice members that could potentially be next branch president into the stake offices before the meetings.... ;)

Sunday we drove with the Flowers to stake conference and it was quite good! President Smith shared a fantastic talk on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and also I probably got distracted making little animals out of magnets haha for some of the conference. Those magnets will get you!! We ate a great dinner and then had a little Come Follow Me lesson as well with Logan and Sarah. 

--Abe

Bruton Gaster

Greetings,

This week was cold and sometimes rainy! We keep hoping it will snow soon. So we had many a person tell us it's too cold for them to listen. I agree! If I could I would also just stay huddled in my house and deny all strange people who knocked on my door. What is your favorite season? 

Monday was good, we did a lot of shopping and relaxing. When shopping my process consists of grabbing a variety of foods and snacks that I want, and then slowly putting item after item back on the way to the register, as I realize the unreasibility of my decisions--Until 70% of my grabbed items are back on their respective (or other item's respective) shelves. :) I also made the mistake of responding to and answering a couple calls, meaning I ended up coordinating and taking care of things that I would rather not deal with on my ONLY free day. Peoples favorite day to bother me is Monday, and it's very irritating. I am happy to drop everything if it's ANY OTHER DAY haha-- I've had to start ignoring people on Mondays.

We were able to get a temple trip with the Flowers set up though which was cool! Now we can go with them even though we couldn't go to their Sealing. When it was time to get to our appointments my phone stopped working suddenly. So we spent the next hour trying to figure out why it suddenly crashed. I will never buy or use an an Android again if I can avoid it. I have never had so many digital trials and tribulations in my whole life until I was forced by the mission to use an android! Luckily I know that Jesus Christ knows just how I feel and will help me be free of all my trials some day! :)) Who would have thought that something as small as a phone could create so many problems in the Lord's kingdom? 

We finally figured out how to hard reboot it, and got it back to its normal hardly-functioning self. All joking aside, We felt like it was an answer of prayers when we got it working because my phone is the device that is holding the entire area together. Later on we has a really good sit-down chat with Shardae who works at the jail. She told us all about how the jail works and reaffirmed my resolve to avoid living there at all costs. Many of the prisoners complain about the food, but it isn't exactly a restaurant so I don't know what they expect! We watched a Book of Mormon video and talked about prophets too.

Tuesday we went to district council and drove with the Millers. It was sooo cold and windy so it felt like a Costco freezer except turned on turbo haha--walking outside immediately freezes you. District council was fun, I got to give a training on teaching which was cool. I focused on the importance of knowing your audience and teaching to needs. I also talked in depth about the importance of respect. Missionaries are rarely good teachers but also with the spirit it doesn't really matter. We had a good lunch at Subway! The person making my sandwich was very generous on the Guacamole and mayo and so it was extra good. 

We drove to Cullen, LA and stopped by a media referral named Kevin, and he actually knew who we were and was interested! He was working on replacing the engine for his truck so we just stood around his engine and talked. He said he's really interested in the Book of Mormon, and even told us his favorite scripture is James 1:5 unprompted by us. Later in the day we got a panicked call from Sister Mass because she had lost her wallet but hoped it was at the church. So we went over and found it for her on the organ pedals! In the evening we taught a lady named Zay the Restoration, and we were standing out in the cold so we taught it faster and simpler than ever before! We also taught Jarriod again, and he kept trying to see if he could throw me a "party I would NEVER forget" before I leave but we said no haha--he finally seemed to grasp that we read 2 books and not just "the mormon version" of the Bible which was good though. We also got to know his backstop a little more and we think that he has some obstacles to overcome. I kept having to repeat what Elder Bradshaw was saying because Jarriod could not understand his accent haha--even though it's just a slight southern Utah accent.

On Wednesday we ate with Royce at My Kitchen Table again. This time they had some fantastic lasagna, which I was surprised to find out. Usually lasagna is incredibly mediocre no matter where you get it. This could also be due to the fact that I have had SO much lasagna on my mission and wouldn't be sad to not see some again for the next 2-3 years. Also had some amazing baked beans and pecan cake there! We went with the Millers and had a lesson with Joyce (who we ran into a few weeks ago), and that was really fun! Her house was incredibly cluttered but she made space for all of us to sit and then stood herself. She was very very animated and "praise the Lord"-ey and said amen loudly after every point we made haha--it was great! She also wants to cook for us sometime and sing in our church. She's very active in her church but is open to going to other places. She thought the idea of more scripture was cool and told US that the only way she would know if it were true was to pray about it. She promised us she would read and then promised us that she doesn't promise things unless she's going to do them. So we will see! I also got to talk with Jack and coordinate for us to meet for dinner with him after the temple on Saturday! We went up to Waldo and talked to some people, including a lady named Jamila who is interested in learning more. We drove all the way up to McNeil to visit a less-active member as well, and then had a great lesson with Debbie and Brooklyn. We taught them a full Plan of Salvation lesson and Debbie told us she had basically already believed all this stuff beforehand. They are both really interested and Brooklyn always kinda hides her face, but her questions and interest in everything show that shes really seeking truth. We also encountered several cute I mean nice girls walking around the campus. Nobody who wanted to stand in the cold and talk about Jesus though haha

We stopped by a former named Kevin and gave him a Book of Mormon. He was confused why we hadn't come in a while. He must not remember ignoring us 6 visits in a row 2 months ago haha--We also went and taught Octaviona or whatever his name is and he was tentatively interested. Still a bit nervous to branch out but didnt turn us away either. We visited Vonn who had loud music thumping, and he told us he was having a party and to come back another day. Even though he was the only one there hahaha

Overall we had a good day and found several new people to teach as well.

On Thursday we walked the dogs and they kept chasing after cars. Some of them must have a death wish. One of the dogs named Buck always knows immediately when we get there and is so excited that he performs various stunts to try to get out. He was opened the gate to his enclosure several time and this time he broke the door that separated one side of his place from the other just so he could come bark at us. Naughty dog. We also helped move a small fridge in our truck from Royce's to Wade O'Neals room at the nursing home. We had to Stand outside the door and wait for 30 minutes while the nurses tried to IV his arm haha--must have had an elusive vein. Then I spent the next couple hours working on agendas and organizing my office filing cabinet, which doesnt SOUND very interesting but it actually was because I found lots of angry letters, old church resources, court transcripts, and funny old church pamphlets. In the evening we walked around a lot and talked to some people. Got told to leave from an apartment complex unless we have an appointment with someone. Which is always infuriating because what can they do? Especially since it was government housing haha

We also talked to Chris again and ate some good Jimmy John's. 

Friday morning we went and saw Mike Jones in the nursing home. He seemed sad and depressed when we got there so we just talked about football and Nick Sabin retiring and stuff and that cheered him up considerably! By the time we left he was a lot more jolly it seemed. Sometimes people need to just tall about normal things. Then we also went and had lunch at My Kitchen Table again with Royce! As usual he knew half the people going in and out of the restaurant and said hi to every one haha--he literally seems to know half the town. In the afternoon after some daily contacting and administrative work we went out in to the FRIGID windy cold and attempted to do missionary work. We had a good lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Chrict with Brooklyn and Debbie at the church which was really good, one of the best sit-down lessons I've led in a while! Brooklyn is finally coming out of her shell slightly as she becomes more comfortable with us, she promised to pray next time. Then we also talked to a guy named Blake who seems interested in the Gospel, though he is an awkward fellow. We ate breakfast for dinner with the Masses at the church and Royce was hanging around checking the pipes on the building since its getting so cold. Worrying aloud about the pipes and hoping they wont burst has quickly become one of his top favorite conversation topics, if not THE top favorite! I had to make a call to the Stake and our FM group to get some final instruction on keeping the building safe since it is supposed to get REALLY cold in the next few days. After that we learned that Wade O'Neal had gone into Cardiac arrest and that when they had revived him he had been mad they hadn't just let him die. So after being on life support for a bit they finally let him go. Which was very sudden, we didn't know he'd been sick enough for that, feel bad for his family. 

We attempted to visit some more people in the evening but it was to no avail. Everyone's doors must be frozen shut! We did have a lesson with Becky, Farod, and Fatima which was fun! They let us in their house again! 

Saturday was one of the best days ever, we spent the whole day basically from 9 am to 10:30 pm driving to the temple with the Flowers. We had a blast, stopped and got food from Wendy's and Buckys, and had a really good endowment session with them. Logan also had to get a new backpack so we had to stop at a giant mall with them, and then on our way back we stopped in Rockwall and ate at Canes with Jack! It was so fun getting to hang out with some of my 3 best mission friends! Jack's almost done with his mission papers which is really exciting. We also had permission from the Mission President to shop for essentials today because of a freeze and big storm coming through apparently. So we went with the Flowers to Walmart and sooooo much was out of stock. Empty shelves everywhere haha it was crazy! I dont know why people are this way-- we are literally getting at freeze that gets down to 8⁰ or 4⁰ one or two nights and some potential snow. Nothing major but that's the talk of the town. Every person we talked to is like, "you heard about that dagum storm we have comin' in?" I want to reply, "Oh yeah I heard we are getting mild cold front coming through." But maybe people know something we don't, we will see. It is getting pretty cold but nothing unusual. We will see. So shopping we got what we could which wasnt much, but now we will survive the INCHES of only potential snow we get should our door get sealed shut but 4 inches of snow so dont worry about us!

Sunday did get extraordinarily cold, so that was not fun, but surprisingly we still had a good turn out at church because of a bunch of visitors! Becky and Fatima and Farod came too, and after showing him the Baptismal font now Farod wants to get baptized! Had several setting apart to do and went over the records with Royce. Then it started raining ice haha and so the roads are now covered with it. We also after Ward Council we helped Logan Jumpstart his Mustang which died. It was fun working on it in the cold!! Overall we had a pretty busy and cold day. 

-Abe

Pockets that Mark the difference-- Between a Gentleman and a Bum

Greetings Goblins,

We had an extremely busy week, so busy that we basically didn't go longer than an hour between appointments and meetings all week. And that was the LONGEST we had between things. So we tried to fit finding and administrative stuff between those times the best we could. 

I hope each of you reading this had a good week! Those of you who don't read it hopefully you had a mediocre but not bad week. :)

Monday was New Years and our mission president allowed us to sleep in until 8:30 since he had let us stay up until midnight the night before. I of course didn't sleep in because I was busy writing last week's email! We did our shopping and laundry, and then sat around most of the day. Or at least Elder Bradshaw did. I spent all afternoon cooking a mini feast of wontons, no-bake cookies, juice, a cheese and cracker spread, popcorn, chips, bacon, and dip. Then after many blunders after I had finally finished we went and surprised the Millers with a great feast! They were very surprised, and happy to spend New Years dinner with us. In the evening we went and found some super interested people (Ashanti and Jess) at an apartment complex in south Magnolia. Both of them said the Gospel is just what they need! We had a good lesson with one-legged Chris as well, and ended up talking about wrestling with him more than the Book of Mormon haha

Met Herbert too who was wandering between his car and apartment as if looking for something. 

On Tuesday we drove to district council with the Millers. It's funny to drive with them because we always tall about the same things cause Sister Miller forgets what she's told us. So we drive along, she talks about Juan in jail and how sad but probably for the best it is that the judge sent him back to rehab instead of letting him out. Then she will talk about how much they will miss me when I leave. Then she makes some comment like "honey don't pass him!" And closes her eyes in fright while Elder Miller bombs down the highway 20 over the speed limit past a logging truck. Then she asks us about Becky, and tells us how they found Jared Fuller and they think he's really promising and we should reach out and offer to work on his farm to fellowship him. Then she talks about Allen Barton and whether she thinks they should try again to find him even though he had a rifle and was hiding in the shed as they talked to his parents last time (she switches from drive to drive on if she thinks they should try one more time or not). Then it's a rinse and repeat of the same subjects haha--it's fun because you can always predict what's next! I like driving with them more and more these days. We had a good district council (even though there were a few unsavory comments regarding how good tracting is) and had a good training on the Book of Mormon! We ate at Cottons for lunch and then drove back and visited some referrals and members with the Millers on the way back. Everybody had moved or was gone blast them!

In the evening we did some walking around and it got sooo creepy because we walked down this super dark street in the outskirts of town that leads to nowhere and there were woods on one side and a fenced field on the other side with faint outlines of figures in white clothes. Probably scarecrows or something but the dark definitely made them look scary! We found a guy named Tim though who's interested and really nice down there so it was good!

Then we had a crazy lesson with Jarriod. He again asked us the same stuff he always does like "you don't celebrate holidays right?" And "yall are just like the Jehova's Witnesses right?" I was ready to light into him this time because you would think us answering those questions and others the previous 5 lessons would finally give him the picture, but I guess not. Luckily I was very patient as usual and we were able to talk a lot. We went deep into commandments cause he thinks they are too restrictive and thats why we have repentance. We also had to prove to him that we read the same KJV Bible he does because I guess us telling him that wasn't enough. So he finally believed us that we dont just read the "Mormon Bible" after we had him look up a verse to compare to ours in his haha--so bad

Wednesday we went with the Millers to Sister Hunter's estate in the morning to share a little lesson. Afterwards she showed us her huge shop of old motorcycles and antique cars that her husband used to love. It was really cool! We ate some fantastic food at My Kitchen Table with Royce, and then in the afternoon taught Brooklyn and Debbie! Brooklyn had so many good questions and is excited to be baptized. We talked all about how it will work and how the church is set up. Debbie thought it was really cool too--although she speaks on behalf of her daughter way too much. We stopped by Camero Brent and he was completely naked peeping out from behind the door when he answered--why do people answer the door in this state?? Just don't answer haha you know you dont HAVE to get the door don't you? We found some partygoers who expressed interest as well, and want to learn more about the Book of Mormon. We stopped by Jasmine who's kids told us now was not a good time while we heard yelling and slapping and crying coming from within. 

President Taylor came to Magnolia and we had interviews with him. I had my final interview and it was in MY office haha--it was weird being back on the other side of the desk. He talked the whole time about My Plan for what to do when home and then spent much of the time talking about how I need to kiss a girl as soon as I get back and how I need to try all the flavors of ice cream and so forth haha--his words not mine. 

Then we had a good lesson on the Hily Ghost with Becky and family on her porch. We found a guy named Ocravious who was extremely high and had bloodshot eyes that couldn't even focus on us. But he seemed interested! Or as interested as you can be I guess, he was really chill. 

On Thursday we walked the dogs and I think Elder Bradshaws love for dogs is slowly waning the more he deals with THESE dogs haha--he's already started barking angry orders at them like I do and scoffing at their incompetence. One of the ones I walked kept flipping itself on its back and then slumping down on the ground like jello. It also banged its head on the door and on a pole haha--looked like it hurt but it did it to itself. In the afternoon we drove down to Haynesville with the Millers for a lesson and when it fell through ended up visiting some referrals. We met a lady named Sheryl who we attempted to teach but she kept getting off on tangets about her friend's church problems. We had the mission zoom for the new missionaries to bear their testimonies and it was good to hear some short an sweet ones! The departing missionary testimonies are always long and elaborate...not at all what I like. Then we also drove 30 minutes the other way out of Magnolia a little later and visited some less-active members and interested people out there. Found some absolutely destroyed houses and some mean dogs but no people. We did actually find a person but he was coming out of an abandoned house so who knows if he will see us again!

Friday it was raining cold cold rain all morning and afternoon. We ate again at the kitchen table with Royce and then helped Brother Crye move 6 old TVs via our truck about 30 feet to the garbage pile haha--it was very rainy and we thought we would have to be moving them farther but didnt realize he just wanted them up his driveway! He told us we could use our truck so we assumed it would be farther. We walked around in the freezing cold but actually had a lot of success! Found several interested people and taught some mini lessons. I like showing the Lehi teaching in Jerusalem video to people because it ends with him running from being stoned and so it leaves people in suspense so they HAVE to read the Book of Mormon! Or at least I hope! We also went over to the Miller's home and Becky and Fatima and Farod came too and we taught them a good lesson! We read Mosiah 18 with them and Fatima especially is a really good reader and even corrected her mom several times. We had cookies and soda afterwards and visited, but we unfortunately were made 60 minutes late to one appointment and 30 minutes late to the next one too because of how long the lesson went. We kept trying to use tge body language of "we need to leave" but everyone kept droning on and on and on and on. So finally I took matters into my own hands and we stood up, said goodbye, and left. we got to go over and talk with the Flowers for a bit for Elder Bradshaw to meet them! It's always so fun talking to them, they are so normal. And we could talk to them forever. Sarah's mom is so mad we can't come to Sarah's Sealing so she is going to pull some strings and try to get that changed. We will see if it works! The mothers always know how to get what they want. 

On Saturday we walked the dogs and walked around a lot in general. We found a guy named Robert who's interested in church and coming to church right after I was commenting on how we need to find more people that will come to church haha

We got an oil change and the guy doing the car next to ours was super cocky and kept rambling on and on about how he can change oil in his sleep and so on and so forth to the poor lady in that car. So we laughed at that and also our mechanic was very incompetent so Elder Bradshaw kept pointing out the ways she was messing up haha

Then we went up to McNeil and visited our one person up there. We walked around a little and even though the entire town is abandoned and small with literally nobody around we managed to run into the one guy who existed and he lives in Magnolia! He's interested so we got his info. We also went and talked with the Flowers and devised a scheme to convince President Taylor to let me go to their Sealing at the Bentonville temple even though he already said no. He said no again though. I did my tasks in the evening (we've found that if we try to teach Saturday evenings everyone is drunk or gone, so we focus our prime teaching time to the daylight hours on Saturday), and then got some dinner at Jimmy John's with my card that I know Malachi is so happy I have!

Sunday we had a good church meeting. Heard some good testimonies and I got to conduct. We had a good intro to the Book of Mormon Sunday School taught by Elder Miller too! The rest of the afternoon was taken by appointments including but not limited to:

▪︎ calling someone as the new christen

▪︎ calling someone as a new Primary teacher

▪︎ Giving a blessing to a semi active branch member who asked for one

▪︎ Branch Council

▪︎ Branch Youth Council

▪︎ finishing the quarterly report

▪︎ taking care of Tithing and finances

▪︎ interview in preparation for a calling for someone

▪︎ a lesson or two (in the evening)

-Abe